sermons fell on eager ears

[Mnemon]

He preached against the apothecary's use of the old ways and the apothecary's foul temper and greed made certain some of these sermons fell on eager ears.

From the movie "A Monster Calls"

Here's one the relevant meaning of the phrase, fall on:

To fall on (transitive) - to arrive at [something that is almost always negative and not the intention or wish of the subject];

However, I think in this case it's exactly the wish and the intention of the subject (the sermons to be heard). Could someone elaborate?
The only idiom dictionaries are aware of concerning "fall on" is "fall on deaf ears". Not sure whether the part in bold is idiomatic or not. Could someone confirm that?

 

[probus]

Don't make too much of the claim that "fall on" is almost always negative. While that claim may be true usually, in this case it obviously cannot be. "Eager ears" implies that those who heard that news were glad to receive it.

 

[jutfrank]

Yes, it is idiomatic. It's a variation of the idiom fall on deaf ears.

 

[Tdol]

The idiom is negative- the speaker was hoping for a receptive audience, and got the opposite. So the movie version is a play on a negative idiom.